On Death and Dying On the Job as a Professional Truck Driver

How deadly is commercial truck driving? Is death and dying on the job something that professional truck drivers actively work to avoid yet fail to make adequate preparations for in advance?

What if you don't make preparations?

We are going to try to handle this topic with sensitivity and yet straightforwardness because we feel you need to be prepared.

Statistics

According to one article, commercial truck driving is the ninth deadliest job due to
work-related incidences, but could possibly be the
deadliest when "heart complications, blood clots, and other sedentary
lifestyle related abnormalities were factored in."(1)

That's rather
sobering.

This March 2011 AOL article also listed truck driving
in the #9
position on the list of the top 10 most dangerous jobs.

On
December 11, 2012, Fleetowner.com ran an article about 2011 highway deaths,
which stated:

... fatalities in accidents involving large trucks
increased by almost 20% in all categories including truck driver
deaths. The only category of truck accident fatalities to decrease was
that of other-vehicle-occupant fatalities, which declined by 3.6%.

during an attempted railroad
crossing (link). (We cover truck railroad
crossing accidents separately, but on
this page,
we're zeroing in on fatalities only.)

There are many, many more cases of truck drivers dying
on the job.

Some of them include
situations in
which truckers were killed due to road rage, during a robbery(7) or perhaps
accidentally in a truck stop.

On August 9, 2011, a UPS driver (who drove a delivery
truck, but a truck nonetheless) was killed instantly when a tree fell on his truck during
high winds.(8)

We're confident that no professional
driver wakes up one day, thinking that they will die on the
job that very day. But it happens.

Photo Gallery

Shown
here are two different views of the remains of
a tractor after a professional
driver had a bad accident.

(The trucking company's name was purposefully removed.)

We don't know if the driver who was
driving when this accident occurred was killed, but this looks
pretty bad to us.

No
trucker wants to be
involved
in an on-the-job accident, especially the kind that requires
hospitalization, time
off work, and ends in death and dying.

But
accidents happen in
trucking, even fatal accidents. Death and dying is a very real
possibility.

The last time we checked, except in the Biblical
accounts
of Enoch (Genesis 5:24) and Elijah (2 Kings 2:11), the
mortality rate among
humans is 100%.

If you think about it, we're all "terminal."
It's not a matter of
"if" but "when" we're going to die.

So, it makes good sense to make
adequate preparations for your own death and dying. This is especially
true if you have family members.

Vicki knows about the squabbling that some families get
into regarding the disposition of assets after another family member
dies, even if that person dies without a will.

It is human nature at
its worst when sheer greed kicks in.
Everyone jostles for position to get what they think is their "fair
share" (when it really isn't theirs to begin with).

One view of asset management -- prior to death -- goes
like this: "Do
your giving while you're living, so you're knowing where
it's going."

Will a trucker's family members who depended upon the
trucker's income find comfort in that after the trucker dies on the job?

A Great Example

Mike's mother was a wise woman. Not only did she have
her last will and testament in place, but she pre-paid for her own
funeral and burial expenses.

We were so impressed by this that not long
after she passed away, we pre-paid for our own final arrangements.

Her
death and dying was eased for her children in this way and we want that
for our loved ones, too.

But after the funeral or memorial service, after
the
burial or cremation, what then?

Preparations for Family Members

Did
you adequately prepare
for the
welfare of your family members?

If you were the primary breadwinner in
your family, what will they live on after you're gone?

Consider the
after-effects of your death and dying.

You would be wise to consider not only
an adequate amount of life insurance, but also make sure that the
people whom you want to receive it are listed as your beneficiaries.

We have a friend whose spouse died. All of the
spouse's insurance policies -- except one -- had been updated to list
our friend as beneficiary.

That old policy listed someone as
beneficiary from many years before, someone they would rather not have
had get the money.

But after the spouse's death, it was too late to do
anything.

Last Will and Testament -- and Other Legal Documents

In addition to life insurance (you determine if "whole
life" or "term" is best for you), don't forget to make out your last
will
and testament.

We
have a prepaid legal services family membership that
allows
us to update our wills once a year with no added cost besides our
monthly membership fee. (We do not at all
recommend getting a cookie-cutter legal form from an office supply
store because it may not provide you with
all of the options you need or should know about.)

When considering the inevitability of death and
dying, you may also
need to have other legal documents
in place.

Some people have a living trust, living will
or
health care power of attorney in place. Consider the advantages and
disadvantages of each one so that you will have exactly what you want
and need for the future.

Review your documents at least once a year and
make updates as needed, especially if new children are born or added to
your family.
Make sure that your family members know where these documents are
located.

Financial Affairs

It
is also an excellent idea for husbands and wives to
regularly discuss their financial affairs with each other in the event
that one of them experiences death and dying.

Vicki has a
friend who tells the story of one of her mother's friends. The husband
continually told his wife that they were flush with cash.

The wife took
her husband's word for it without ever digging further.

When her
husband died, the woman wanted "the best" for her husband, believing
that there was plenty of money to pay for everything.

She received a
rude awakening.

Not only was there not the nest egg she had been led to
believe they had, but she had to go to work to pay for the funeral
expenses and provide for her own living!

Making a List Can Help

If
you
haven't already done this, we recommend that you make a list of your
assets, your accounts,
your policy numbers, contact names and addresses, and the like.

While
you're making preparations regarding death and dying, do not
forget to list all of your digital assets along with your
preferred method of disposition.

When
you have your information written down, store it in an easy-to-find
location.

Be sure that you put all your legal documents,
policies
and other important papers together and advise your family members of
their location.

You
may also want to consider making copies of some of these documents and
putting them in a different location, in the event of a fire.

We have crafted a couple of files to help make
it easier for you (which you will find in our free
downloads page):